Editorial

(this is the editorial from the paper zine)

Welcome to the second edition of Another Dental Visit, my zine about depression and mental illness. It has been a year since I finished Issue 1, and what a year it has been.
I have gone from being barely able to cope with my two-days-a-week job, to working fulltime and deciding to have a go at art school (yes, more university study). I am now just about finished my first semester in a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts). It’s been really fun focusing on being creative and I think that shows in this issue. Another Dental Visit #1 contained one collage by me and plenty of writing and articles but this issue is mostly made up of my art. I have also included some advice and opinions from a few people I know because I have found that while there is a lot of information on diagnosing and defining mental illnesses, it can be hard to find advice on living and coping with it day-to-day.

I’m definitely in a much better place, mentally, than I was a year ago. When I finished Issue 1 I was about to start cognitive behaviour therapy and I was really quite depressed (although I had just started on my third antidepressant and, unlike the previous two, it seemed to be helping). I did cognitive behaviour therapy for a couple of months and it helped a little, although I did feel a hell of a lot worse before I started to feel better but I found that I had trouble opening up to the counsellor so I ended it. I knew that I should find someone else to see but I haven’t got around to it and as my mental health improved I had no immediate reason to find another counsellor. After ending the therapy last year, I worked full-time on and off for a while—this was quite good because I’d worked only two days a week for quite some time and had felt barely able to do this. Then this year I started full time study again and have really enjoyed it and haven’t been too stressed with the study and work. If I want to seriously deal with my depression in the long term and come off antidepressants I will definitely need to go back to a counsellor. Now I’m at uni again I think I should take advantage of the free counselling services they have!

One other thing I’ve done which I’m pretty chuffed about, is to finally create my own website: http://www.zinegeek.com. It features my art, my blog and a heap of stuff from my zines.

What ever happens from here, I hope I keep making art and I keep making zines. I will also keep trying to overcome the depression I live with regularly. I’d like to thank all those people who filled in surveys for me. And I’d also like to thank all those friends who were there for me when I could barely keep going myself. Your friendship and belief in me kept me sane and kept me going. Thank you.

Feel free to contact me about anything in here and no matter how shitty life gets, it can and will get better.